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أصوات الحياة: كيف تقربنا التكنولوجيا الرقمية من عوالم الحيوانات والنباتات
تزخر الطبيعة بأصوات مذهلة يستعصي سماعُها على الآذان البشرية. ومع توجُّه العلماء نحو استخدام التقنيات الرقمية المتطوِّرة والذكاء الاصطناعي لاكتشاف هذه الأصوات، اكتشفوا أن الكائنات الحيَّة تتواصل بأحاديث مدهشة. عادةً ما يُعزى انفصالنا عن الطبيعة إلى التكنولوجيا، لكن ماذا لو كانت التكنولوجيا وسيلةً تُعيد لنا اتصالَنا بها؟
هذا الكتاب رحلةٌ مذهلة في عالم أصوات الطبيعة الخفية، نستكشف من خلاله على سبيل المثال الأحاديث التي مكَّنَتنا أحدث الابتكارات العلمية من إجرائها مع نحل العسل، والخفافيش، والنباتات، وغيرها من الكائنات. وسنعرف كيف يستخدم العلماءُ الأصوات من أجل حماية الأنواع المُعرَّضة للانقراض. وتُوضِّح لنا الكاتبة أيضًا كيف أن أغلب تلك الاكتشافات � وإن كانت جديدة على العلم الغربي � ليست جديدة على البشرية، إنما هي إعادة اكتشاف لمعارف توصَّلَت إليها الشعوب الأصلية المُعايِشة لتلك الكائنات منذ قديم الزمن، وتناقلَتها عبر الأجيال وجاء العلم ليؤكدها.
هذا الكتاب رحلةٌ مذهلة في عالم أصوات الطبيعة الخفية، نستكشف من خلاله على سبيل المثال الأحاديث التي مكَّنَتنا أحدث الابتكارات العلمية من إجرائها مع نحل العسل، والخفافيش، والنباتات، وغيرها من الكائنات. وسنعرف كيف يستخدم العلماءُ الأصوات من أجل حماية الأنواع المُعرَّضة للانقراض. وتُوضِّح لنا الكاتبة أيضًا كيف أن أغلب تلك الاكتشافات � وإن كانت جديدة على العلم الغربي � ليست جديدة على البشرية، إنما هي إعادة اكتشاف لمعارف توصَّلَت إليها الشعوب الأصلية المُعايِشة لتلك الكائنات منذ قديم الزمن، وتناقلَتها عبر الأجيال وجاء العلم ليؤكدها.
472 pages, ebook
First published October 18, 2022
127 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
April 28, 2023
How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss
This book is so sneakily rebellious. Stick it to the man! I love how the author is simply telling the tale of how this and that was discovered in natural science and biology, but all the tales seem to have one thing in common - it's indigenous tribes having to prove to white people that they've always known better, or it's women scientists trying to prove that you just need to listen to learn things. All those people trying to protect nature, to protect indigenous tradition - and they all face the hubris of "established [white colonial] science". There really wasn't a political bent to the book, I swear - it's just the truth, and it's not judgy at all. But the author unmasks so much white man hubris (man, specifically) in this book, that I applaud her for it. This is one of the reasons I really enjoyed this book.
But the tales are also very interesting. I didn't know that these Paynes apparently almost singlehandedly saved whales AND elephants from extinction (okay, I'm oversimplifying, but these people are SOMETHING ELSE. Beyond awesome.) It's also just really interesting to hear about things like elephants talking over miles and nobody ever even suspecting, cause we simply can't hear it. It's all SO COOL. The running theme, however, is that we are just too damn stuck up to try to understand that we're not the only 'personalities' on the planet. It's high time we stopped thinking that. The author often uses the terms "human and nonhuman people", which I think is a point of view that should be taken up by us soon, if we want to keep the planet going. There's all those videos of cats and dogs being taught to speak OUR language by pressing buttons, it's not been a secret for DECADES that some apes can learn sign language and express themselves pretty well. Maybe it's time we understood we're not the only ones who communicate with each other? It's a fascinating concept for me, and I'm very glad to hear that work is being done in these areas, and that it's especially important for conservation. The author even included AI on the list of ways to improve this, which was an interesting direction to explore for sure.
This book is very accessible, very nature and eco-oriented, and it uplifts the right voices. I'm glad I picked it up.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
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This book is so sneakily rebellious. Stick it to the man! I love how the author is simply telling the tale of how this and that was discovered in natural science and biology, but all the tales seem to have one thing in common - it's indigenous tribes having to prove to white people that they've always known better, or it's women scientists trying to prove that you just need to listen to learn things. All those people trying to protect nature, to protect indigenous tradition - and they all face the hubris of "established [white colonial] science". There really wasn't a political bent to the book, I swear - it's just the truth, and it's not judgy at all. But the author unmasks so much white man hubris (man, specifically) in this book, that I applaud her for it. This is one of the reasons I really enjoyed this book.
But the tales are also very interesting. I didn't know that these Paynes apparently almost singlehandedly saved whales AND elephants from extinction (okay, I'm oversimplifying, but these people are SOMETHING ELSE. Beyond awesome.) It's also just really interesting to hear about things like elephants talking over miles and nobody ever even suspecting, cause we simply can't hear it. It's all SO COOL. The running theme, however, is that we are just too damn stuck up to try to understand that we're not the only 'personalities' on the planet. It's high time we stopped thinking that. The author often uses the terms "human and nonhuman people", which I think is a point of view that should be taken up by us soon, if we want to keep the planet going. There's all those videos of cats and dogs being taught to speak OUR language by pressing buttons, it's not been a secret for DECADES that some apes can learn sign language and express themselves pretty well. Maybe it's time we understood we're not the only ones who communicate with each other? It's a fascinating concept for me, and I'm very glad to hear that work is being done in these areas, and that it's especially important for conservation. The author even included AI on the list of ways to improve this, which was an interesting direction to explore for sure.
This book is very accessible, very nature and eco-oriented, and it uplifts the right voices. I'm glad I picked it up.
I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.
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November 30, 2022
Starting from the first paragraph, Karen Bakker just piled up the fascinating things that are happening and have been discovered in the area of bioacoustics. So, right there you can continue on reading the book or decide for yourself that The Sounds of Life is too technical or boring for you to read. But, first, did you know that "... male peacocks transmit powerful infrasound with their raised tails; what humans perceive to be a visual display is, in fact, a sonic summons."?
Yeah, that's the end of that first paragraph. If that bores you or sounds too technical, this might not be the book for you. But, if finding out things like that is right up your alley, you might just want to read this book.
This is, at least in 2022 when I read it, a lot of cutting edge stuff. The world, it seems, is full of animals (and plants!) the emit noises that humans can't hear because they're too low in frequency or too high in frequency for us to hear. But, as is pointed out frequently, it's also possible that we simply haven't been listening. Again and again, we learn that many indigenous peoples were familiar with many of these sounds.
Toward the end we are reminded that the ecology of our world may be more fragile than is sustainable for life here as we know it. (And, importantly, as the creatures we share this planet with know it.) Noise pollution may be killing us all.
In addition to science, we do get some discussion of ethics. There's a lot of talk of how we can attempt to use our technologies to communicate with other life forms. And it brings me to one of the quotes Karen Bakker includes in the book: "Interspecies communication may be intriguing to some humans but perhaps not that interesting to other species."
We may want to talk with them but there's a strong possibility that not everything alive wants to talk with us. And we have to be careful of whether we're actually seeking to live with our environment or whether we're actually just seeking to exploit it.
The charm of the book, for me, was the reporting of the discoveries of animal and plant communication. Here are some of the things we learn: Turtles communicate! Some fish communicate! We don't know how they can hear it, but some plants will send their roots toward the sound of rushing water, even if the water is in a test tube! There are birds in Africa who summon humans to beehives � the humans get the honey and leave the wax for the birds, who love the stuff! And scientists have invented little bee robots that can sometimes direct biological bees toward pollen sources!
But if you're a techie, there's also a lot of discussion of the means we've used to learn of these things. Happy to have read the book.
Yeah, that's the end of that first paragraph. If that bores you or sounds too technical, this might not be the book for you. But, if finding out things like that is right up your alley, you might just want to read this book.
This is, at least in 2022 when I read it, a lot of cutting edge stuff. The world, it seems, is full of animals (and plants!) the emit noises that humans can't hear because they're too low in frequency or too high in frequency for us to hear. But, as is pointed out frequently, it's also possible that we simply haven't been listening. Again and again, we learn that many indigenous peoples were familiar with many of these sounds.
Toward the end we are reminded that the ecology of our world may be more fragile than is sustainable for life here as we know it. (And, importantly, as the creatures we share this planet with know it.) Noise pollution may be killing us all.
In addition to science, we do get some discussion of ethics. There's a lot of talk of how we can attempt to use our technologies to communicate with other life forms. And it brings me to one of the quotes Karen Bakker includes in the book: "Interspecies communication may be intriguing to some humans but perhaps not that interesting to other species."
We may want to talk with them but there's a strong possibility that not everything alive wants to talk with us. And we have to be careful of whether we're actually seeking to live with our environment or whether we're actually just seeking to exploit it.
The charm of the book, for me, was the reporting of the discoveries of animal and plant communication. Here are some of the things we learn: Turtles communicate! Some fish communicate! We don't know how they can hear it, but some plants will send their roots toward the sound of rushing water, even if the water is in a test tube! There are birds in Africa who summon humans to beehives � the humans get the honey and leave the wax for the birds, who love the stuff! And scientists have invented little bee robots that can sometimes direct biological bees toward pollen sources!
But if you're a techie, there's also a lot of discussion of the means we've used to learn of these things. Happy to have read the book.
April 18, 2023
Recently, I've encountered a number of books concerning the use of digital technologies (artificial intelligence, automated recording devices) for the study of the acoustic expressions of non-human animals, but none of them offered a comprehensive overview of the major bioacoustic discoveries in the form of a follow-up story, and each focused only on a particular group of beings (for example Tom Mustill's How To Speak Whale, which highlights cetaceans).
I'm all the more pleased with Karen Bakker's book, which not only offers such an overview, but also discusses the sounds of creatures that are of somewhat marginal interest acoustically: plants, freshwater turtles, and others. Although the book is strictly factual and lacks personal touch (it’s nothing close to David Rothenberg’s or David G. Haskell’s writing in terms of style, although it is well-written in its own right), it is replete with fascinating connections that I had no idea of until now. For example, thanks to this book I know now that elephant infrasonic communication (i.e., communication at long wavelengths that we, unfortunately, cannot hear) was discovered by zoologist Katy Payne, the same person who, with her husband Roger, revealed to the world the beauty and complexity of humpback whale songs.
Personally, I was also very pleased with the amount of space Bakker devotes to traditional (indigenous) forms of knowledge; early on in the introduction and then often throughout the book, she quotes extensively from botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi), who successfully blends scientific and indigenous perspectives in her celebrated work (grab Braiding Sweetgrass if you can). That indigenous knowledge obtained through hundreds and hundreds of years of patient listening and observation should be taken seriously is certainly not a commonplace attitude among Western scientists and science popularizers. By acknowledging the indigenous art of deep, place-based listening (and broadly the importance of indigenous place-based knowledge), this book simultaneously celebrates the insights gained through digitally enhanced listening and points to its serious limits (disembodiment of listening being one of the main issues).
Modern digital listening tools, which greatly expand the scope and depth of our hearing, reveal to us that there is virtually no life form on planet Earth that does not sound in one way or another. This book offers a detailed initiation into remarkable things these tools have opened to us in recent years, to all those wonderful novelties in the field and art of listening to life.
I highly recommend it!
I'm all the more pleased with Karen Bakker's book, which not only offers such an overview, but also discusses the sounds of creatures that are of somewhat marginal interest acoustically: plants, freshwater turtles, and others. Although the book is strictly factual and lacks personal touch (it’s nothing close to David Rothenberg’s or David G. Haskell’s writing in terms of style, although it is well-written in its own right), it is replete with fascinating connections that I had no idea of until now. For example, thanks to this book I know now that elephant infrasonic communication (i.e., communication at long wavelengths that we, unfortunately, cannot hear) was discovered by zoologist Katy Payne, the same person who, with her husband Roger, revealed to the world the beauty and complexity of humpback whale songs.
Personally, I was also very pleased with the amount of space Bakker devotes to traditional (indigenous) forms of knowledge; early on in the introduction and then often throughout the book, she quotes extensively from botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi), who successfully blends scientific and indigenous perspectives in her celebrated work (grab Braiding Sweetgrass if you can). That indigenous knowledge obtained through hundreds and hundreds of years of patient listening and observation should be taken seriously is certainly not a commonplace attitude among Western scientists and science popularizers. By acknowledging the indigenous art of deep, place-based listening (and broadly the importance of indigenous place-based knowledge), this book simultaneously celebrates the insights gained through digitally enhanced listening and points to its serious limits (disembodiment of listening being one of the main issues).
Modern digital listening tools, which greatly expand the scope and depth of our hearing, reveal to us that there is virtually no life form on planet Earth that does not sound in one way or another. This book offers a detailed initiation into remarkable things these tools have opened to us in recent years, to all those wonderful novelties in the field and art of listening to life.
I highly recommend it!
October 26, 2024
This book presents the work of several scientists and groups them together in order to better understand how sound opens their Umwelt out to us when we actually listen. A good starting point for further research if the topic interests you. Having read most of the authors cited I still learned a few things about bats, since that's not an animal I had particularly researched on its own. Some of her sources are , , and .
Haskell's has a similar premise to this book but is incredibly expansive in its scope and delves into evolution and anthropology in fascinating ways. Kimmerer's is simply one of the best non-fiction books about any topic I've ever read. Seeley's gives you incredible insight into how bee colonies function and a must-read if you're interested in bees at all. If you want to read more about whales, how they communicate and how we're disturbing their habitat by being too noisy amongst other issues, I can recommend . Ed Yong's also uses this premise and expands into the other senses to give us a sense of how little we can understand other creatures. All of these books are fantastic in their own right.
Haskell's has a similar premise to this book but is incredibly expansive in its scope and delves into evolution and anthropology in fascinating ways. Kimmerer's is simply one of the best non-fiction books about any topic I've ever read. Seeley's gives you incredible insight into how bee colonies function and a must-read if you're interested in bees at all. If you want to read more about whales, how they communicate and how we're disturbing their habitat by being too noisy amongst other issues, I can recommend . Ed Yong's also uses this premise and expands into the other senses to give us a sense of how little we can understand other creatures. All of these books are fantastic in their own right.
November 13, 2024
Like the top review writes, this book is so sneaky in highlighting indigenous voices' in the scientific debate, I love it. This is a book about tech solutions to big conservation problems in the realm of sound, centering indigenous voices at every opportunity. It's a fascinating exploration of the role that sound plays in nature. Each chapter looks at a specific creature & how they use sound in their lives - whales, bats, bees etc.
The last chapter depressingly summarizes the insurmountable odds against the environment and nonhuman beings - I can only hope whales are still around in 50 years' time.
The last chapter depressingly summarizes the insurmountable odds against the environment and nonhuman beings - I can only hope whales are still around in 50 years' time.
December 7, 2024
God good damn - this is why I read science journalism. So so so good - I learned so much and was by turns delighted, astounded and aghast. I will be back to update this review with so many quotes. I do so wish I had become an audio ecologist!!
April 7, 2023
A book in a similar vein to The Hidden Life of Trees and the Inner Life of Animals, this is a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion of acoustic ecology, animal and plant communication, and many other elements relating to the sounds of nature. There will certainly be many ecologists, linguists, biologists, and others who will take issue with this book and accuse Bakker of anthropomorphising animals and plants. Or perhaps for overstretching what we know, based on the studies she covers. And whilst that may be true at points, I think Bakker does an excellent job overall in explaining where our knowledge is tentative, impartial, and speculative, versus where we have quite a lot of evidence. As for anthropomorphising, she confronts this head on at several points, and also makes fair points about the flip side of this, anthropocentrism, which dominates many scientific fields and tends to assert that humans provide the standard against which all things relating to communication, intelligence, and consciousness should be measured. A lot of the research in here is at the edge of our current knowledge, so I have no doubt there will be a lot more work to emerge in years to come, some of which might shed new light on what she shares here. I found it a worthwhile and engaging read, and would recommend it for plant, animal, nature and music lovers alike. It's the most comprehensive book I have read on the topic to date.
December 23, 2022
This is quite a technical read, at times, with very long chapters. That being said, it is informative and illustrative of the very real impact that bioacoustics can have on climate change. Also, this book promotes and increases empathy for our nonhuman partners on our one and only home, Planet Earth.
November 5, 2022
The book makes a powerful case that our cacophony adversely impacts biophony and geophony. “Two ears and one mouth� - there may be something to this proportion in how much more we should be deeply listening over making noise.
August 14, 2024
4.5 rounded down to 4.
A wonderful book about sounds and soundscapes of nature, and how research has been tapping into them to gain new insights into the world. The author goes through a series of accounts of trailblazing scientists, and events that upturn the prevailing knowledge about the production and use of sounds in organisms (from whales, turtles and bees to plants) and then describes what we can learn and have learnt from them. A delightful read!
A wonderful book about sounds and soundscapes of nature, and how research has been tapping into them to gain new insights into the world. The author goes through a series of accounts of trailblazing scientists, and events that upturn the prevailing knowledge about the production and use of sounds in organisms (from whales, turtles and bees to plants) and then describes what we can learn and have learnt from them. A delightful read!
June 26, 2024
I discovered this book in one of my favorite bookstore, the part about Whales and the indigenous wisdom were very intriguing, the more I learn about nature and other animals, the more insignificant human are to me, but yet we're so greedy, what a shame.
July 21, 2024
A great overview of bioacoustics research for non-experts! Doesn’t go into too much (if any) technical detail, but I appreciated the discussions around the ethics of using bioacoustics to understand and potentially communicate with animals.
January 17, 2023
This book was just gobsmackingly amazing. Every chapter was full of cool information, things I didn't know, and fascinating theories.
It's a must-read for anyone thinking about how we think about animals and what we know about animal communication.
Just the turtle chapter alone is well worth the fact that I bought this as an audiobook, a Kindle book, and a hardback.
It's a must-read for anyone thinking about how we think about animals and what we know about animal communication.
Just the turtle chapter alone is well worth the fact that I bought this as an audiobook, a Kindle book, and a hardback.
December 9, 2022
I really enjoyed the focus on the sounds of insects and plants.
October 13, 2024
I picked this book up after watching Karen Bakker’s Tedx Talk. I’m delighted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this, and learned a lot from it not only about the advancements on biacoustic technologies but also found it to be a guide to bridge the gap between Indigenous knowledge and Western science. It was infuriating to read about the initial resistances in the scientific realm to any non-anthropocentric discoveries. I also loved her ethical approach on listening/ deciphering animal languages, she acknowledges that we’re voyeurs and just because we want to understand animals it doesn’t necessarily mean that they want to communicate with us.
October 21, 2023
I loved this book. If you talked to me while I was reading, I definitely shared at least one new fascinating thing about animal behaviour. It’s a very accessible writing style and a truly captivating topic.
September 17, 2024
Misschien zou je het niet meteen denken als je de titel ziet, maar: dit is geen boek over zomaar geluiden, maar over taal. Alleen gaat het niet over menselijke taal, maar over niet-menselijke taal. Ik gebruik expliciet dat nogal vage woord, want Bakker heeft het niet alleen over allerlei soorten dieren, maar ook over planten. En dat wordt gecombineerd met AI.
Het kan handig zijn om een beetje achtergrond te hebben in de taalkunde en AI (zoals ik gelukkig allebei heb), maar ook zonder zul je dit boek wel kunnen volgen. De auteur bespreekt op verschillende niveaus hoe niet-menselijke wezens communiceren en in verband staan met elkaar en met de wereld om hen heen op een akoestische manier. Elk hoofdstuk is grotendeels gewijd aan één diersoort of een groep dieren. Daarbij wordt telkens ingegaan hoe het wetenschappelijke onderzoek naar hun communicatief en talig vermogen zich heeft ontwikkeld, wat we allemaal te weten zijn gekomen, en welke rol AI-systemen spelen - nu en in de toekomst.
Een deel van wat er verteld wordt, wist ik al wel. Als klein minpuntje vind ik over het algemeen wel dat Bakker zich schijnt te beperken tot de bekendste voorbeelden - twee hoofdstukken gaan vrijwel integraal over walvisachtigen en andere gaan over bijen en vleermuizen, allemaal dieren waarover veel mensen met interesse in dit onderwerp volgens mij wel iets kunnen weten. Gelukkig zijn er ook nog hoofdstukken over veel minder voor de hand liggende soorten, zoals koralen en planten.
Bovenal is het ongelooflijk wat je te lezen krijgt eens de auteur wat meer in de details duikt over hoe de soorten communiceren, wat ze communiceren en hoe ze in contact staan met hun umwelt, zoals ze dat noemen. Hoe sommige dieren en planten zich hebben ontwikkeld, is werkelijk onvoorstelbaar (net zoals heel wat wetenschappers dachten en denken telkens als ze wat ongebruikelijke onderzoeksresultaten van hun collega's te lezen krijgen). Er is een ontzettend scala en een ontzettende rijkdom aan manieren waarop levende wezens geluiden en andere communicatieve symbolen produceren, kunnen leren enzovoorts. Je staat als lezer echt versteld. De wereld is een magische plek, dat wordt in Geluiden van het Leven wel duidelijk. Bovendien: AI is nog maar zo kort gemeengoed; hoe zouden de vakgebieden in dit boek over vijf à tien geëvolueerd zijn, wat zouden we dan allemaal al meer weten?
De vertaling is van ene Irwan Droog. Die doet het niet slecht, al ergerde ik me wel aan het gebruik van 'artificial intelligence' - waarom niet gewoon 'artificiële intelligentie' of 'AI'? Verder worden alle termen wel goed vertaald - ik weet maar al te goed hoe moeilijk dat in dit vakgebied is, maar de vertaler laat alles mooi, normaal Nederlands klinken. Het moet in het algemeen ook een monnikenwerk geweest zijn om dit boek te vertalen, met al die complexe AI- en biologische termen en woorden erin. Dat is gelukkig allemaal zeer kundig gedaan, en het leest nog vlot ook.
Alleen meer naar het einde toe, in de laatste twee à drie hoofdstukken, heeft de redactie wel wat typ- en grammaticale fouten laten staan, soms een paar op één bladzijde. Dat begon na een tijdje dus wel wat te storen. Misschien naderde de deadline en was er op het einde niet meer genoeg tijd over om alles degelijk af te ronden? Dat is wel jammer.
Maar laat dat vooral niet aan je hart komen. Lees gewoon dit boek en wees verwonderd over de mirakels die hier blad na blad aan bod komen.
9/10
Het kan handig zijn om een beetje achtergrond te hebben in de taalkunde en AI (zoals ik gelukkig allebei heb), maar ook zonder zul je dit boek wel kunnen volgen. De auteur bespreekt op verschillende niveaus hoe niet-menselijke wezens communiceren en in verband staan met elkaar en met de wereld om hen heen op een akoestische manier. Elk hoofdstuk is grotendeels gewijd aan één diersoort of een groep dieren. Daarbij wordt telkens ingegaan hoe het wetenschappelijke onderzoek naar hun communicatief en talig vermogen zich heeft ontwikkeld, wat we allemaal te weten zijn gekomen, en welke rol AI-systemen spelen - nu en in de toekomst.
Een deel van wat er verteld wordt, wist ik al wel. Als klein minpuntje vind ik over het algemeen wel dat Bakker zich schijnt te beperken tot de bekendste voorbeelden - twee hoofdstukken gaan vrijwel integraal over walvisachtigen en andere gaan over bijen en vleermuizen, allemaal dieren waarover veel mensen met interesse in dit onderwerp volgens mij wel iets kunnen weten. Gelukkig zijn er ook nog hoofdstukken over veel minder voor de hand liggende soorten, zoals koralen en planten.
Bovenal is het ongelooflijk wat je te lezen krijgt eens de auteur wat meer in de details duikt over hoe de soorten communiceren, wat ze communiceren en hoe ze in contact staan met hun umwelt, zoals ze dat noemen. Hoe sommige dieren en planten zich hebben ontwikkeld, is werkelijk onvoorstelbaar (net zoals heel wat wetenschappers dachten en denken telkens als ze wat ongebruikelijke onderzoeksresultaten van hun collega's te lezen krijgen). Er is een ontzettend scala en een ontzettende rijkdom aan manieren waarop levende wezens geluiden en andere communicatieve symbolen produceren, kunnen leren enzovoorts. Je staat als lezer echt versteld. De wereld is een magische plek, dat wordt in Geluiden van het Leven wel duidelijk. Bovendien: AI is nog maar zo kort gemeengoed; hoe zouden de vakgebieden in dit boek over vijf à tien geëvolueerd zijn, wat zouden we dan allemaal al meer weten?
De vertaling is van ene Irwan Droog. Die doet het niet slecht, al ergerde ik me wel aan het gebruik van 'artificial intelligence' - waarom niet gewoon 'artificiële intelligentie' of 'AI'? Verder worden alle termen wel goed vertaald - ik weet maar al te goed hoe moeilijk dat in dit vakgebied is, maar de vertaler laat alles mooi, normaal Nederlands klinken. Het moet in het algemeen ook een monnikenwerk geweest zijn om dit boek te vertalen, met al die complexe AI- en biologische termen en woorden erin. Dat is gelukkig allemaal zeer kundig gedaan, en het leest nog vlot ook.
Alleen meer naar het einde toe, in de laatste twee à drie hoofdstukken, heeft de redactie wel wat typ- en grammaticale fouten laten staan, soms een paar op één bladzijde. Dat begon na een tijdje dus wel wat te storen. Misschien naderde de deadline en was er op het einde niet meer genoeg tijd over om alles degelijk af te ronden? Dat is wel jammer.
Maar laat dat vooral niet aan je hart komen. Lees gewoon dit boek en wees verwonderd over de mirakels die hier blad na blad aan bod komen.
9/10
April 12, 2023
A fascinating account of acoustic communication among animals and plants - most of which science was not aware of before about 1950, usually because it was too faint, too high (ultrasound) or too low (infrasound) or in places we did not listen (usually underwater). Many of us have heard of whale sounds, known to Inuit for centuries, and to whalers in the days of wooden sailing ships. But once noisy metal steamships replaced sail, the whales were no longer heard by commercial whalers, and the knowledge of whale sound was forgotten by most until after world war 2 when navies listening for enemy submarines heard a lot of other sounds, many of which turned out to be from whales. Since sound, in contrast to light, travels much better through water than air, it makes sense that marine organisms might use it more than landlubbers do. Whales use it for echolocation and social communication, and some sing, probably to attract mates. Songs of the Humpback Whale (1970) became the best-selling natural history recording ever and was a factor that led to a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982, and to a ban on subsistence whale hunt in the arctic in 1978 to protect the bowhead whale population which the international whaling commission estimated was down to 600, but the Inupiat, whose culture is centered on the bowhead proved the scientists wrong - they heard the whales passing by under the ice, while the scientists relied on visual counts, not believing the Inupiat explanations. Gathering the acoustic proof in the late 1970s was hazardous and difficult, involving heavy recording equipment in shelters on shifting sea ice. Now digital recording devices can be left on the seabed, attached to whales, or placed in drones to gather sounds continuously over large areas. AI is used to analyze the large volume of recordings to determine what creatures made which sound where.
People were similarly skeptical about acoustic communication among elephants (infrasound), turtles (faint and infrequent), fish & coral (underwater), bats (mostly ultrasound), until scientists proved that such communication does happen, and to an unexpected extent. Even plants can respond to sound, with roots growing toward the sound of running water (in a tube so there was no humidity gradient) rather than white noise at the same frequency. Some plants detect sound through hairs on their leaves. Research is progressing and agricultural applications have been implemented. And bees famously communicate the direction of and distance to food through the waggle dance. Since the dance is done in the darkness of the hive, it is thought to be a vibrational signal, not a visual one.
The recent advances in understanding acoustic communication in the environment enabled by robust and inexpensive digital recorders is not just fascinating but also useful (eg population monitoring, protect whales from ships, distinguishing one species from another, attracting fish and coral polyps to a reef, and other uses documented in Appendix C.
Highly recommended.
Errata:
p.14 'the Bering Strait--only 3 miles wide at its narrowest point--fans out to the Beaufort Sea' The Bering Strait is 51 miles wide, and it separates the Bering Sea from the Chukchi Sea. The Beaufort Sea begins about 500 miles to the northeast.
People were similarly skeptical about acoustic communication among elephants (infrasound), turtles (faint and infrequent), fish & coral (underwater), bats (mostly ultrasound), until scientists proved that such communication does happen, and to an unexpected extent. Even plants can respond to sound, with roots growing toward the sound of running water (in a tube so there was no humidity gradient) rather than white noise at the same frequency. Some plants detect sound through hairs on their leaves. Research is progressing and agricultural applications have been implemented. And bees famously communicate the direction of and distance to food through the waggle dance. Since the dance is done in the darkness of the hive, it is thought to be a vibrational signal, not a visual one.
The recent advances in understanding acoustic communication in the environment enabled by robust and inexpensive digital recorders is not just fascinating but also useful (eg population monitoring, protect whales from ships, distinguishing one species from another, attracting fish and coral polyps to a reef, and other uses documented in Appendix C.
Highly recommended.
Errata:
p.14 'the Bering Strait--only 3 miles wide at its narrowest point--fans out to the Beaufort Sea' The Bering Strait is 51 miles wide, and it separates the Bering Sea from the Chukchi Sea. The Beaufort Sea begins about 500 miles to the northeast.
March 3, 2025
What a strange book. The information it contains and overall story it tells is certainly interesting.
But it is also a book with very simplistic guiding morals: science was wrong about bioacoustics until specific individuals came along to kinda single-handedly save it; AI and other technology is Good and Exciting and a reliable tool to use in science; Indigenous knowledge is completely correct 100% of the time. Those three statements are rooted in worldviews that cannot all coexist without greater nuance: respectively, the US lone cowboy archetype; mid-'00s tech optimism before nearly all tech leaders came out as fasc*sts who live in echo chambers with cult-like beliefs and whose companies pivot successively from intentionally underselling the competition to raising prices above the competition, harvesting user data, and if they become big enough essentially becoming arms dealers providing crucial technological infrastructure to any military or spy agency that wants to hire them; and some kind of progressivism that reached nearer the liberal mainstream in the very early 2020s.
I think essentially all animals and even plants and perhaps micro-organisms have individual personalities, and I usually move through the world in a panpsychic way (treating objects as sentient in some form). I am also a scientist. I don't know how to introduce my beliefs into a Western scientific setting, in a way other scientists or my scientific brain would accept as rational or meaningful. I also give an enormous amount of credence to Indigenous knowledge systems: but never 100% credence, to anything.
It was a strange experience to read a popular science book that came so close to some of my beliefs (one of the three guiding morals I listed above: but I don't believe one person almost ever changes things without a community working on the problem too; and I don't think tech is always good or useful, because it is a tool, and tools can be used for help or harm, and in appropriate or inappropriate situations), but that I felt missed the mark due to a lack of nuance. It was a strange experience to read a popular science book that takes some of my not-quite-[Western] scientific beliefs and does very little of the work I'd wish to see to make them appropriate *within a narrowly Western scientific context*. And, ultimately, I was irritated to have such a simplistic form of these morals hammered home every. single. chapter. without any change or development in them, any nuance, any subtleties introduced: just the same three morals repeated again and again like a series of identical children's fables. Wrapped in a popular science book.
But it is also a book with very simplistic guiding morals: science was wrong about bioacoustics until specific individuals came along to kinda single-handedly save it; AI and other technology is Good and Exciting and a reliable tool to use in science; Indigenous knowledge is completely correct 100% of the time. Those three statements are rooted in worldviews that cannot all coexist without greater nuance: respectively, the US lone cowboy archetype; mid-'00s tech optimism before nearly all tech leaders came out as fasc*sts who live in echo chambers with cult-like beliefs and whose companies pivot successively from intentionally underselling the competition to raising prices above the competition, harvesting user data, and if they become big enough essentially becoming arms dealers providing crucial technological infrastructure to any military or spy agency that wants to hire them; and some kind of progressivism that reached nearer the liberal mainstream in the very early 2020s.
I think essentially all animals and even plants and perhaps micro-organisms have individual personalities, and I usually move through the world in a panpsychic way (treating objects as sentient in some form). I am also a scientist. I don't know how to introduce my beliefs into a Western scientific setting, in a way other scientists or my scientific brain would accept as rational or meaningful. I also give an enormous amount of credence to Indigenous knowledge systems: but never 100% credence, to anything.
It was a strange experience to read a popular science book that came so close to some of my beliefs (one of the three guiding morals I listed above: but I don't believe one person almost ever changes things without a community working on the problem too; and I don't think tech is always good or useful, because it is a tool, and tools can be used for help or harm, and in appropriate or inappropriate situations), but that I felt missed the mark due to a lack of nuance. It was a strange experience to read a popular science book that takes some of my not-quite-[Western] scientific beliefs and does very little of the work I'd wish to see to make them appropriate *within a narrowly Western scientific context*. And, ultimately, I was irritated to have such a simplistic form of these morals hammered home every. single. chapter. without any change or development in them, any nuance, any subtleties introduced: just the same three morals repeated again and again like a series of identical children's fables. Wrapped in a popular science book.
November 19, 2024
Very interesting book about infrasonic, sonic, and supersonic phenomena in the natural world. Really loved the blend of 'harder' science, history of science, and glimpses of what may come. I did not find the focus on the technologies themselves nearly as interesting as their findings. Humans using AI and AR to play a 'video game' with pigs in their pen is not nearly as cool to me as elephants communicating meaningful information to each other across hundreds of miles via infrasound. The author's enthusiasm for AI, and particularly forms that are especially energy consuming, as an avenue for natural conservation felt glaringly problematic. Not to mention how it makes exploitation of nature even easier and stronger. The US's militarization of bees was one of the few places the author acknowledged these disturbing realities and probabilities.
I was glad to see so much indigenous wisdom and knowledge in the conversation here. The author brought up Western science's colonization and appropriation of indigenous knowledge--something I hadn't really contended with much before. She suggested that scientific knowledge is indeed 'owned' by cultures, but didn't really go into what that means. She also seemed to do the very thing she was warning against there?
I like science best when it seeks to answer 'what' and 'how.' Many scientific findings about the natural world inspire awe and -to use a phrase from this book- expand my sense of the numinous. But I find the way most scientists try to answer 'why' has the opposite effect on my imagination. I find their reasoning reductive, uncreative, and unscientific. It seems most scientists-- often non-biologists, even -- feel compelled to filter everything through a Darwinian sieve in a desperate attempt to make sense of why things are the way they are, or why things behave as they do. There's a bit of that here, but not enough to kill the mood.
I was glad to see so much indigenous wisdom and knowledge in the conversation here. The author brought up Western science's colonization and appropriation of indigenous knowledge--something I hadn't really contended with much before. She suggested that scientific knowledge is indeed 'owned' by cultures, but didn't really go into what that means. She also seemed to do the very thing she was warning against there?
I like science best when it seeks to answer 'what' and 'how.' Many scientific findings about the natural world inspire awe and -to use a phrase from this book- expand my sense of the numinous. But I find the way most scientists try to answer 'why' has the opposite effect on my imagination. I find their reasoning reductive, uncreative, and unscientific. It seems most scientists-- often non-biologists, even -- feel compelled to filter everything through a Darwinian sieve in a desperate attempt to make sense of why things are the way they are, or why things behave as they do. There's a bit of that here, but not enough to kill the mood.
July 3, 2023
I started this book not knowing what to expect - I figured I would enjoy it because I enjoy learning about the natural world, but I often struggle with getting through nonfiction.
I started page 1 knowing only the basics about sound and acoustics, but by the end I learned not only more detail about how sound works in general, but also fascinating details about how vital sound is to both the plant and animal world. There is so much beyond what humans can understand with the unaided ear, but technology is making it easier to not just learn about the existence of sounds and communication between and among animals, but also how humans can act on what we are learning. From whales to birds to phytoplankton, sound is so incredibly important for their survival.
The book gave numerous examples of and explained studies, research, and Indigenous knowledge, making you realize there is significantly more to the animal and plant kingdoms than you'd expect. If you're into learning more about nature and communication, or have an interest in new technology, this book will not disappoint.
A lot of environmental nonfiction presents an issue, often with a gloom and doom undertone, but doesn't explain potential solutions on how we can solve the problem. For this reason, I hesitate to read a lot of environmental nonfiction. However, this book presented solutions and ways technology is not only helping us understand what is going on beyond our hearing ability, but how we can use that same technology to help those same living things.
Overall, the book deserves 4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up to 5. Highly recommend!
I started page 1 knowing only the basics about sound and acoustics, but by the end I learned not only more detail about how sound works in general, but also fascinating details about how vital sound is to both the plant and animal world. There is so much beyond what humans can understand with the unaided ear, but technology is making it easier to not just learn about the existence of sounds and communication between and among animals, but also how humans can act on what we are learning. From whales to birds to phytoplankton, sound is so incredibly important for their survival.
The book gave numerous examples of and explained studies, research, and Indigenous knowledge, making you realize there is significantly more to the animal and plant kingdoms than you'd expect. If you're into learning more about nature and communication, or have an interest in new technology, this book will not disappoint.
A lot of environmental nonfiction presents an issue, often with a gloom and doom undertone, but doesn't explain potential solutions on how we can solve the problem. For this reason, I hesitate to read a lot of environmental nonfiction. However, this book presented solutions and ways technology is not only helping us understand what is going on beyond our hearing ability, but how we can use that same technology to help those same living things.
Overall, the book deserves 4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up to 5. Highly recommend!
February 10, 2024
Absolutely fascinating! This book highlights the exponential changes we are living through as AI develops and digital technologies mature. What’s more, how we can study sound where we have previously focused on sight to understand the natural world.
Amazonian river turtles communicate while still in their shells to coordinate hatching and signal to their mothers. Coral reefs give off a soundscape that can be detected by larvae when choosing a home. Elephants communicate on infrasonic levels humans cannot hear. Using new microphones and AI to listen to hundreds of hours of communications, we can develop algorithms that quickly weed out other noises to detect, track, and provide us with data.
Scientists detected African elephants� infrasonic “bee signal� and have been able to reproduce it to ward them off from trespassing on farms and avoid being killed. They used bioacoustics tracking of right whales in new territories caused by climate change migration to develop warning systems and prevent ship-related deaths. We can now translate sign language to voice and text in real-time using an AI algorithm; with machine learning, what could this tell us about animals?
There is so much possibility in this book and in these studies. And important ethical questions as well, like how can we use this to be better environmental stewards rather than animal domesticators? We are just beginning to grasp how technology can aid us in understanding the nature world in ways we couldn’t or could only very slowly do as humans.
Amazonian river turtles communicate while still in their shells to coordinate hatching and signal to their mothers. Coral reefs give off a soundscape that can be detected by larvae when choosing a home. Elephants communicate on infrasonic levels humans cannot hear. Using new microphones and AI to listen to hundreds of hours of communications, we can develop algorithms that quickly weed out other noises to detect, track, and provide us with data.
Scientists detected African elephants� infrasonic “bee signal� and have been able to reproduce it to ward them off from trespassing on farms and avoid being killed. They used bioacoustics tracking of right whales in new territories caused by climate change migration to develop warning systems and prevent ship-related deaths. We can now translate sign language to voice and text in real-time using an AI algorithm; with machine learning, what could this tell us about animals?
There is so much possibility in this book and in these studies. And important ethical questions as well, like how can we use this to be better environmental stewards rather than animal domesticators? We are just beginning to grasp how technology can aid us in understanding the nature world in ways we couldn’t or could only very slowly do as humans.
August 27, 2023
Animals use sounds to communicate, and to talk. Our understanding of the meanings of the sounds animals use to communicate is undergoing a revolutionary change because of the latest technologies in acoustic sensors, collection and recording of large data sets in difficult physical circumstances, miniaturization, processing, and ai. Karen presents examples of sound communications used by Whales, Reefs, Elephants, Turtles, Plants, Bats, and Honeybees. It is fascinating stuff. But the first few chapters left me wanting more meat. For example, there’s a lot about whale sounds being recorded and processed, but nothing much about what they mean. The chapter on Bats is more satisfying. The one on honeybees is the best.
Half the book’s volume is references, which is very odd for a book meant for the general public’s consumption. My guess is that this is to support certain views the author takes which she expect will attract controversies and backlash: (1) Western societies have been largely oblivious to the fact that animals might also have societies and everything else that entails. (2) Native peoples around the world have a tremendous amount of knowledge about animal sounds and animal societies and a deeper connection with them, which has also been largely ignored by Western societies.
I will look forward to reading more about this subject from Karen and others making advances in this field.
Half the book’s volume is references, which is very odd for a book meant for the general public’s consumption. My guess is that this is to support certain views the author takes which she expect will attract controversies and backlash: (1) Western societies have been largely oblivious to the fact that animals might also have societies and everything else that entails. (2) Native peoples around the world have a tremendous amount of knowledge about animal sounds and animal societies and a deeper connection with them, which has also been largely ignored by Western societies.
I will look forward to reading more about this subject from Karen and others making advances in this field.
February 3, 2023
A rich book, steeped in science and cutting edge. The text is dense and enriching. This concentration of information manages to range afar while being deep and accessible, presenting complex logical understandable arguments.
From the interpretation of communications by other species, both flora and fauna, their modes of communication and the effects of that communication, to the consideration of anthropomorphism and anthrocentrism in the appropriateness of attempting such communication, to the ethics of the use of such communication, through the digital detection, recording and processing of these communications it is all here. Further extending the knowledge the experimentation and results verifying the rich variety of both infrasound and ultrasound communication undetectable by unaided humans forces us to expand our consideration of what is communication and how we are se it to better the world.
The book also covers the multitude applications of such knowledge. The author also presents indigenous viewpoints and contributions.
I found this book helpful in expanding my perspective of the global environment and those species with which I am fortunate to share it. You will be challenged and enlightened by this book.
From the interpretation of communications by other species, both flora and fauna, their modes of communication and the effects of that communication, to the consideration of anthropomorphism and anthrocentrism in the appropriateness of attempting such communication, to the ethics of the use of such communication, through the digital detection, recording and processing of these communications it is all here. Further extending the knowledge the experimentation and results verifying the rich variety of both infrasound and ultrasound communication undetectable by unaided humans forces us to expand our consideration of what is communication and how we are se it to better the world.
The book also covers the multitude applications of such knowledge. The author also presents indigenous viewpoints and contributions.
I found this book helpful in expanding my perspective of the global environment and those species with which I am fortunate to share it. You will be challenged and enlightened by this book.
May 25, 2023
Karen Bakker must be a wonderful teacher. She is a scientist who labours in the arcane fields of environmental governance and digital transformation.
She is knowledgeable in biology and animal behaviour. She listens to aboriginal elders and the voices of the sea, and advances in experimental techniques of acoustics and artificial intelligence.
I can’t imagine a better guide to the burgeoning fields of bio-accoustics and eco-accoustics.
In this slim work she invites us into the questions of what other species say to each other and what are we missing out on.
But technology has a marvelous way of opening new vistas to us. In this case acoustical engineering helps us map whales in the seas, follow a honeybee to its next home, or listen to the inaudible � to the human ear � crackling of a stalk of corn.
I am particularly sensitive to sound so when she tells us that noise pollution is cutting us off from nature and hastening the demise of species I hear her loud and clear.
Why is this so important?
Because we are silently killing our fellow creatures at an alarming rate; because we are desecrating the wilderness; because there’s no way back; because some of us love this planet.
NB: If you enjoy this book you will also enjoy Ed Yong’s An Immense World and Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard, another terrific Canadian scientist.
She is knowledgeable in biology and animal behaviour. She listens to aboriginal elders and the voices of the sea, and advances in experimental techniques of acoustics and artificial intelligence.
I can’t imagine a better guide to the burgeoning fields of bio-accoustics and eco-accoustics.
In this slim work she invites us into the questions of what other species say to each other and what are we missing out on.
But technology has a marvelous way of opening new vistas to us. In this case acoustical engineering helps us map whales in the seas, follow a honeybee to its next home, or listen to the inaudible � to the human ear � crackling of a stalk of corn.
I am particularly sensitive to sound so when she tells us that noise pollution is cutting us off from nature and hastening the demise of species I hear her loud and clear.
Why is this so important?
Because we are silently killing our fellow creatures at an alarming rate; because we are desecrating the wilderness; because there’s no way back; because some of us love this planet.
NB: If you enjoy this book you will also enjoy Ed Yong’s An Immense World and Finding the Mother Tree, by Suzanne Simard, another terrific Canadian scientist.
March 16, 2024
Language is poor translation, ik weet niet meer wie dit als eerste heeft geschreven, het is mooi en begrijpelijk terecht, het boek gaat over geluid , communicatie en organismen, door verheven arrogantie is sapiens ergens op een dwaalspoor wat betreft communicatie, veel organismen gebruiken geluid om te communiceren, omdat we het niet begrijpen is het lawaai, communicatie kan waarschijnlijk vanalles zijn ook dingen die buiten het bereik van Sapiens zintuigen liggen , waarschijnlijk is het veelal een combinatie van geluid , trillingen, zicht , licht , geur enz , sommige op frequenties die biologisch per organisme verschillen,
4 sterren een leuk boek over verschillende geluiden ( manieren van communiceren) die verschillende organismen gebruiken ( nu meer detecteerbaar met behulp van computer sensoren)
Sommige stukken waren wel wat meer bio ethiek gericht en minder op het thema geluid , en ethiek is moeilijk dat bestaat deels uit feiten en deels uit meningen , gezamenlijke grond vinden ,
4 sterren een leuk boek over verschillende geluiden ( manieren van communiceren) die verschillende organismen gebruiken ( nu meer detecteerbaar met behulp van computer sensoren)
Sommige stukken waren wel wat meer bio ethiek gericht en minder op het thema geluid , en ethiek is moeilijk dat bestaat deels uit feiten en deels uit meningen , gezamenlijke grond vinden ,
August 2, 2024
To me, this book reads like a documentary. It is an overview of all major research on bioacoustics and ecoaucustics which nowadays rely heavily on AI, written in a toned-down non-academic tone, much like a narrative. If you know nothing about AI, acoustics, or biology, you'd enjoy it, if you know something about any of these topics, you'd enjoy it even more.
What appealed to me most is the rebellious streak apparent in the author's tone against the arrogance of Western science. She was open enough to show the traditional knowledge side of things, which is uncommon for a Western scientist. In many instances, she showed how Indigenous peoples knew many years ago what scientists newly "discovered". And many times intently or not, she showed the stark difference between how respectful and considerate these peoples are of their environment and its creatures, and how Western and colonial civilizations tend to wreak havoc on anything they can lay their hands upon.
This was a fun and very interesting read.
What appealed to me most is the rebellious streak apparent in the author's tone against the arrogance of Western science. She was open enough to show the traditional knowledge side of things, which is uncommon for a Western scientist. In many instances, she showed how Indigenous peoples knew many years ago what scientists newly "discovered". And many times intently or not, she showed the stark difference between how respectful and considerate these peoples are of their environment and its creatures, and how Western and colonial civilizations tend to wreak havoc on anything they can lay their hands upon.
This was a fun and very interesting read.
December 26, 2024
كتاب مميز جدا يتحدث عن العتبة التي تعجز عندها قدرات الإنسان عن الإدراك، سواء كانت العتبة فوق قدرات حواسه أو تحت قدرات حواسه، وهنا يتحدث الكتاب عن القدرات السمعية للإنسان. فالإنسان يملك حاسة سمع محدودة بنطاق معين لا يستطيع السماع تحتها أو فوقها.
خارج إطار القدرة البشرية علي السمع توجد أصوات بل عالم كامل من الأصوات التي لا يمكنه التعرف عليها. أصوات لم يكن يعرف الإنسان أنها أصلا موجودة، لكن مع التطور التكنولوجي أصبح يعلم أن هناك أصواتا تحيط به تطلقها كل المخلوقات من حوله لتتفاهم فيما بينها.
تطلق الحيتان في قلب المحيط أصواتا تستطيع سماعها علي بعد عشرات أو مئات بل الاف الأميال وهي تطلق أصواتا معينة لنداء التزاوج واطلاق التحيرات بوجود الخطر. كمنا أن السلاحف التي كان يظن العلماء أنهابكماء اتضح أن لها نطاق من الموجات الصوتية كشفتها الاجهزة الحديثة، وبالمثل تطلق يرقات الأسماك أصواتها والكثي�� والكثير من المخلوقات التي تطلق أصواتها مما اتضح معه أن العالم مليء بالأصوات التي تحيط بنا تطلقها مخلوقات لم نكن نتصور أنها تطلق أصواتا. اتضح باستخدام التكنولوجيا الحديثة أننا نعيش في محيطمتلاطم من الأصوات .
كتاب مميز.
خارج إطار القدرة البشرية علي السمع توجد أصوات بل عالم كامل من الأصوات التي لا يمكنه التعرف عليها. أصوات لم يكن يعرف الإنسان أنها أصلا موجودة، لكن مع التطور التكنولوجي أصبح يعلم أن هناك أصواتا تحيط به تطلقها كل المخلوقات من حوله لتتفاهم فيما بينها.
تطلق الحيتان في قلب المحيط أصواتا تستطيع سماعها علي بعد عشرات أو مئات بل الاف الأميال وهي تطلق أصواتا معينة لنداء التزاوج واطلاق التحيرات بوجود الخطر. كمنا أن السلاحف التي كان يظن العلماء أنهابكماء اتضح أن لها نطاق من الموجات الصوتية كشفتها الاجهزة الحديثة، وبالمثل تطلق يرقات الأسماك أصواتها والكثي�� والكثير من المخلوقات التي تطلق أصواتها مما اتضح معه أن العالم مليء بالأصوات التي تحيط بنا تطلقها مخلوقات لم نكن نتصور أنها تطلق أصواتا. اتضح باستخدام التكنولوجيا الحديثة أننا نعيش في محيطمتلاطم من الأصوات .
كتاب مميز.
January 17, 2024
A fascinating account of a) the importance that sound plays in supporting the life that surrounds us and b) the lengths to which the scientific community goes to reveal these mysteries.
The book is a snapshot of recent developments in bioacoustics and how they might enable us to be better neighbors to all the species we share the planet with.
I liked the style, the humble tone of the writing, and how Bakker balances the excitement of Western science with the acknowledgement of traditional knowledge.
She also raises important ethical questions about our newfound power of collecting and through vast audio datasets: will we use it to better conserve and protect other species or to domesticate, control and exploit them?
The book is abundantly documented and feels like a door to a rich universe of inquiries. It holds LOTS of amazing facts about whales, turtles, bats, plants and corral reefs - to name a few.
The book is a snapshot of recent developments in bioacoustics and how they might enable us to be better neighbors to all the species we share the planet with.
I liked the style, the humble tone of the writing, and how Bakker balances the excitement of Western science with the acknowledgement of traditional knowledge.
She also raises important ethical questions about our newfound power of collecting and through vast audio datasets: will we use it to better conserve and protect other species or to domesticate, control and exploit them?
The book is abundantly documented and feels like a door to a rich universe of inquiries. It holds LOTS of amazing facts about whales, turtles, bats, plants and corral reefs - to name a few.
August 3, 2024
I bought this book for a long train trip to a conference. A very nice read. Karen Bakker published this already 2022 but I somehow failed to see it back then. The book gives an overview of bioacoustics of marine mammals, turtles, corals, plants, etc. It has a very good list of references and pointers for further reading. I especially liked the positive vision on how the evolving machine learning technology for audio signal processing will help us to manage better the conflicts between humans and the rest of the living organisms on this planet, and how it might even enable some form of inter-species communication or negotiation. The author is Canadian and the book has a somewhat north-American bias in selection of stories to tell and units to use. Many years ago I read a wonderful old book about sounds of insects. I didn't make any notes and I've been trying to find it back to get my own copy. Bakker refers to the book too; Pierce's Songs of Insects.
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